PRESENTED BY: WACAC ADMISSION PRACTICES COMMITTEE Ethical Practices

Admission Practices Committee Our Goals & Responsibilities: 1. To educate admission & counseling professionals and others dealing with areas related to admission and their institutions regarding the nature of ethical standards as adopted & promoted by NACAC 2. To monitor compliance with the Statement of Principles of Good Practices, and to respond to possible violations with the goal of ensuring full compliance among members 3. To promote the adoption of and compliance with similar standards by nonmembers within the profession 4. To promote awareness of ethical practices among students and their families. Committee members/Presenters: Mary Connolly Scottie Hill Sonia Ryan

NACAC Statement of Principles of Good Practice This code of ethics was developed in tandem with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers (ACCRAO) and The College Board Endorsed by American Council on Education, National Association of Secondary School Principals and American School Counseling Association Overarching philosophy statement: Member schools, colleges and universities believe in the dignity, worth and potential of each and every students. To enable all students to make the dream of higher education a reality, these institutions and individuals develop and provide programs and services in postsecondary counseling, admission and financial aid.

Core Values of SPGP Professionalism Collaboration Trust Education Fairness and Equity Social Responsibility

Focus areas of the SPGP 1. Promotion & Recruitment College Fair behavior, accurate representation of admission requirements, no promotional tactics, bonuses, confidentiality of student records and data 2. Admission, Financial Aid and Testing Policies and Procedures Proper notification of decisions, abide by May 1 decision deadline, Early Action/Early Decision, accurate representations of high school’s grading scales, honor the confidentiality of students’ preferences

Case Study #1 A student openly lies on an Early Action application about his/her list of activities and/or significance of contribution to the activity. Or, the student lies on an application in relation to the arrest, suspension or expulsion question. Or lies about his/her ethnicity. You don't see the final application before it is mailed, but at a later date the student is sitting in your office and starts asking you questions about a new application and showing you the copy of the one already sent. You see the lie. You try to convince the student and the parents to send a letter correcting the intentional misstatement but they refuse. 1. Do you notify the Director of Admission? Do you send an anonymous letter to the college? 2. Consider all of the legal, ethical, and moral issues involved. Consider the rights of the student, the parents, the Director of Admission and yourself.

Case Study #2 A high school college counselor relocates and begins a new position at a small private school. He is replacing a counselor who had been at the school for 25+ years and abruptly left in the summer. In the course of his first application cycle at the high school, he discovers that many of the students use a particular independent college counselor because the previous counselor was not well regarded in college admission counseling areas. The independent CC had for some time been requesting, and had been given, the letters of recommendation written by the high school teachers, then rewrote them and returned them to the teacher to be sent to the colleges. The new counselor found out about this from one of the teachers, in the course of conversation, who didn’t think it was a big deal. What does the high school counselor do about a) The letters that may have already been sent b) The teachers c) The independent college counselor

Case Study #3 A college admission office begins sending out letters of acceptance and notifications of scholarship awards in February. Those students selected for merit scholarships can also receive special housing preference and course registration priority. Award winners must accept their award by April 1. Otherwise, students will lose their scholarship and housing preference. When the student calls to ask for an extension, she is told that, to be fair to students who had been designated alternates, the college must have her answer about the scholarship by the stated date of April 1, but that she did have until May 1 to respond to the offer of admission. 1. What violation, if any, of the SPGP is seen in this scenario? 2. What advice do you have for the student?

Questions? Any scenarios?

Resources NACAC website  i. Admissions Practices committees: regional and national ii. Knowledge Center iii. SPGP document i. ments/SPGP.pdf ments/SPGP.pdf Students Rights and Responsibilities document etplace/student/Documents/StudentsRtsNEW.pdf etplace/student/Documents/StudentsRtsNEW.pdf